


Once Upon A Scholastic Rivalry

by KrysKrossZee



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Bookstore, Angst, Books, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, POV Male Character, POV Percy Weasley, POV Third Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:20:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27798376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KrysKrossZee/pseuds/KrysKrossZee
Summary: What do you do when you're working in retail and your scholastic rival has just been accepted into a new school? Well, Percy's not going to let it be known other him - too much.
Relationships: Percy Weasley/Wesley Wyndam-Pryce
Kudos: 6
Collections: Cast the Dice 2020





	Once Upon A Scholastic Rivalry

**Author's Note:**

> Prompts used-
> 
> Cast The Dice 2020: Ones. Bookshop AU.

The bell chimed as the door swung open. It made Percy jump; he hadn't been expecting anyone in today, but then he supposed that this was a shop and  _ anyone  _ could walk in during opening hours. It just wasn't a regular occurrence around here. The shop was slightly off the beaten path, which didn't help footfall, but it was also situated in Knockturn Alley and dealt with books of a much darker nature than that of Flourish and Blotts.

Percy hadn't told his family that this was where he was working for summer. They all thought that he had an internship at the Ministry, not because he'd lied and told them so but because they'd assumed that when he'd told them he had a summer job and he'd simply not denied it.

"Hello." Percy didn't even need to turn around to know who the voice belonged to. Wesley Wyndam-Price, the only person who had ever managed to annoy him more than Oliver Wood. The upside about Wesley was that he hadn't needed to share a dorm with the Ravenclaw. His presence in a shop like this did however surprise Percy, but he tried to appear uninterested as he turned to face his old classmate.

"How may I help you?" Percy asked, deciding just to turn on his customer service voice and not bother to even engage in whatever game Wesley was here to play.

"I'm looking for some old magic books, preferably ones in Sumerian. I was told you might have some?" Wesley was either pretending not to recognise Percy or actually didn't recognise him. They'd only left school a month ago so the latter was unlikely. He supposed that it was possible that Wesley just didn't want to be associated with a place like this, but then why come here in the first place?

Percy gave a slight nod. "I'll go and check what we have in the back." He had no idea if they had any books in Sumerian - he didn't even know how to recognise Sumerian if he was completely honest, but he knew that the rarer books were usually kept in Simkins' back room where they couldn't just walk out the door if they took the fancy of someone who was up to no good.

Percy left Wesley to his own devices as he headed through. He could see his fellow prefect from there and as he watched him peruse the books on the shelves he couldn't help but wonder what he would want with books on old magic. It was against the shop policy to ask so he knew that it was unlikely that he would ever know. 

Eventually he found a first edition of a book that he could even pronounce the title of, so he took it out and all but dropped it on the counter. He didn't expect Wesley to say anything except to pay for the book so he found himself taken by surprise when he was asked a question.

"So this is what you're doing with yourself?" There was a tone to it that was rather snooty and while Percy was used to Wesley talking in such a way, he still didn't like it. It had always bugged him that other families looked down their noses at his, which was why he was working so hard to change the way that people saw him.

"Part time, yeah." Percy answered as he opened another book in an attempt to find the price of the one that Wesley was now leading through, treating each page as if it were made of glass.

"Still trying to get hired by the Ministry?" Wesley asked and Percy tried not to let himself be too unsettled by the fact that the other man seemed to know quite a bit about him. They had been scholastic rivals, so he supposed it made sense that he had kept some tabs on him, but school was over now.

"Yeah, maybe." Percy shrugged, deciding not to make too big a deal out of it, or even draw attention to the fact that he had applied to get an internship but in the end when he had been offered both a job here and one at the Ministry, he had taken this one because it was more money. It wouldn't do for the Head Boy to work retail after all.

Except this job was more than retail. It was different - and at times it could be exciting. Percy doubted that the Ministry job would have allowed him to learn about both non-verbal spells and possession of house elves in the same day. Despite the Ministry having been his aim in life, he didn't think that he could end up working there now.

"What about you?" Percy found himself asking, deciding to throw the shop policy out the window for today on the grounds that Wesley had asked him first.

"I got accepted into a new school." Wesley told him as he rung the book up. "One that will hopefully land me on the right path."

There was something that stopped Percy from asking for details there. There weren't that many schools that were available to wizardkind, and Percy had never actually known anyone who had ever gone to one of them, but that sort of made sense to him. Further education wasn't really something that most magic folk sought after, especially not in his parents' circles. Both his elder brothers had jobs already so it wasn't as if Percy could even ask them about their experiences.

The two were silent for a few moments before Wesley picked up his book. "It was nice to catch up." He said, flashing Percy a slight smile, though Percy didn't believe his words. It had been awkward at best, but he nodded anyway.

"Good luck at school." Percy said to the retreating figure, the bell ringing as Wesley left the shop, his new (old) book tucked up under his arm.


End file.
